Promoting the Development of the South in the Trade and Climate Regimes.
This South Centre Analytical Note stresses that addressing the challenges of development and climate change requires an integrated approach. Both the trade and climate regimes have a role to play. (more…)
The Changing Structure and Governance of Intellectual Property Enforcement.
Twelve years ago the TRIPS Agreement introduced global minimum standards of intellectual property protection and enforcement. To the extent that the substantive obligations under the Agreement have now been widely implemented in national legislation, developing countries are facing increased pressure to bolster intellectual property enforcement. (more…)
Analysis of the role of the South-South Cooperation to promote governance on intellectual property rights and development.
The international regime on IP rights is currently made up of a patchwork of laws and institutions at the bilateral, regional, and multilateral levels with a growing number of players. The TRIPS Agreement of the WTO forms the core instrument with critical influence on the role of international actors and the scope of national policy making. TRIPS aim at reducing the North-South tension on IP rights protection through a multilateral system as one of its objectives. (more…)
Towards a Digital Agenda for Developing Countries.
The last two decades of the 20th century saw a revolution in the nature of information and the way that it can be created, used and transmitted. Vast opportunities have been opened up. Developing countries, that have insufficient capacity to generate, disseminate and effectively utilize educational information and knowledge, may finally be in a position to accelerate their development. (more…)
IP rights under investment agreements: The TRIPs-plus implications for enforcement and protection of public interest.
The proliferation of investment and IP agreements raises fundamental questions on the relationship between such agreements and the implementation of national policies for economic development. (more…)
South Centre Analysis on the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration.
The South Centre Analysis of the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration evaluates the developments in the Doha Work Programme since the launch of the Round, examines the implications of the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration and identifies some important strategic issues for developing countries that need to be considered in subsequent negotiation. (more…)
The Agenda for Transfer of Technology: the Working Group of the WTO on Trade and Transfer of Technology.
Technology transfer is a mechanism for the shifting of information across borders and its effective diffusion into recipient economies, thus involving numerous complex processes, ranging from innovation and international marketing of technology to its absorption and imitation. (more…)
From Doha to the July 2004 Framework Package.
On 31 July 2004, the WTO General Council decided to establish a framework for continued negotiations under the Doha Work Programme set out in the Doha Ministerial Declaration (DMD, WT/MIN(01)/DEC/1) of 2001. This note seeks to present a content analysis of the WTO General Council Decision of 31 July 2004 (WT/GC/W/535). (more…)
The Balance of Negotiations and Discussions in the Doha Work Programme: Overview Matrix of Negotiating and Non-Negotiating Areas.
The Doha Ministerial Conference of the WTO, held in November 2001, launched an ambitious work programme. The discussions/ negotiations initiated under this work programme include a number of issues in addition to the WTO built-in agenda and purely trade-related issues. (more…)
Integrating Public Health Concerns into Patent Legislation in Developing Countries
The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) requires all WTO Member countries to adapt their laws to the minimum standards set out in the Agreement, within established transitional periods. Conforming with the Agreement by recognizing or strengthening the protection of pharmaceutical products and processes by intellectual property rights (IPRs) has posed a special challenge for developing countries. The way in which the required legislative reform is made may have a significant impact on public health policies, and particularly on the population’s access to drugs.
This document presents options for the design and implementation of public-health-sensitive patent policies in developing countries. It examines approaches to selected issues in patent law that may help to strike a balance between the public and private interests involved in the protection of health-related inventions, including those of States, patients, and of the suppliers of health-related goods and services. This document has been prepared as part of an initiative aimed at exploring health-related aspects of intellectual property rights that may further the needs of the poor and excluded in developing countries. It is primarily addressed to policy makers and others concerned in the field of public health in developing countries.
Integrating Public Health Concerns into Patent Legislation in Developing Countries
